Today, CCL filed an amicus brief for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in the Ninth Circuit appeal of several California counties and a municipality seeking to hold several oil companies liable for the impact that climate change has had on their communities. 

   The Whitehouse amicus brief specifically responds to a brief previously filed in support of the defendants by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber, claiming to be steadfast in its support for a response to climate change, urged the Ninth Circuit to reverse the District Court and treat the issue as a political question more appropriate to being addressed in the executive and legislative branches. Today's filing points out that the Chamber has consistently opposed climate change policies in the two other branches of government and suggests that the Chamber's amicus brief be discounted because its funding sources are not transparent.